Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-12-09


orooks, 50 my soul panteth after thee. o
god" You would get better understand
Ing OF this amidst the Adirondacks in sum.
mer time. Here comes a swift footed
aeer. The hounds are close on the track.
IL mas leaped chasms and scaled cliffs. &
IS tagged out; its eyes are rolling in death.
Its tongue is lolling from its foamino
mouth. Faster the deer faster the docs
until 1t plunges into Schroon Lake and the
hounds can follow it no farther, and it
puts down its head and mouth until the
nostrll is clean submerged in the cool
wave, and understand it: GAS the heart
panteth for the water brook, so panteth nv
SOU after thee, 0 God" Oh, bring me
water from this we'll! Little child, whoha
learned of Jesus in the Sabbath school.
bring me some of that living water. Ola
man, who fifty years ago didst find the
we'll, bring me some of that water.
stranger in strange land, who used to
hear sung amidst the highlands of Scot
land, to the tune of Bonnie Doom" aThe
Star, the Star of Bethlehem" bring me
some Of that water. Whosoever drinketh
OF that water shall never thirst. ooh, that
one would give me drink of the water of
the we'll of Bethlehem, which is by the
gate"
Again, this Gospel we'll, like the one
spoken OF in the text, is captured we'll.
David remembered the time when that
good water of Bethlehem was in the pos
session of his ancestors. His father drank
there, his mother drank there. He remem-
Dered how the water tasted when he was a
boy and came up there flom play. We
never forget the old we'll we used to drink
out OF when We we're boys or girls. There
was something in it that blessed the lips
and rQfraobo1 no
thing we have found since. AS we think
of that dear old we'll the memories of the
past flow into each other like crystalline
drops, sun glinted, and all the more as we
remember that the hands that used to Law
hold the rope and the hearts that beat
against the we'll curb are still now. We
never get over these "reminiscences. George
Il. Morris, the great song writer of this
country, once said to me that his song.
"Woodman, Spare That Tree" was sung
in great concert hall, and the memorie 8
of early life were SO wrought upon the
audience by that song that, after the sing
ing was done, an aged man arose in the
audience, overwhelmed with emotion, and
said: "Sir, will you please to tell me
whether the woodman really spared the
tree?" We never forget the tree under
which we played. We never forget the
man who has no early memories!
David thought of that we'll, that boyhood
we'll, and he wanted to drink of it, but he
remembered that the Philistines had cap.
tured it. When these three men tried to
come up to the we'll in behalf of David,
they saw swords cleaning around about it.
And this is true of this Gospel we'll. The
Philistines have at times captured it. When
We come to take q full, old fashioned drink
of pardon and comfort, do not their swords
of indignation and sarcasm flash? Why,
the skeptics tell us that we cannot come to
that fountain! They say the water is not
fit to drink, anyhow. IF you are really
thirsty now, there is the we'll of philosophy,
there is the we'll of art, there is the we'll Of
SCIENCE" They try to substitute, instead
of our boyhood faith, modern mixture.
They say great many beautiful things
about the soul, and they try to feed our
immortal hunger on rose leaves. and mix
mint julep of worldly stimulants when
nothing will satisfy us but "a drink of water
of the we'll of Bethlehem, which is at the
gate" They try to starve US on husks,
when the fathers banquet is ready, and the
best ring is taken from the casket, and the
sweetest harp is struck for the music, and
the swiftest foot is already lifted for the
dance. They patronize Heaven and abolish
hell, and try to measure eternity with their
hour glass, and the throne of the great
God with their yard stick abhor it. I
tell you the old Gospel we'll is captured
we'll. pray God that there may be some-
where in the elect host three anointed men,
strength of the omnipresent God, with the
glittering swords of truth, to hew the way
back again to that old we'll. I think the
tide is turning. and that the old Gospel is
to take its place again in the family, and
in the university, and in the Legislative
hall. Men have tried worldly PHILOSOPHERS,
and they have found out that they do not
give any comfort, and that they drop an
Arctic midnight upon the death pillow.
They fail when there is a death chill in the
house; and when the soul comes to leap into
the fathomless ocean of eternity, they give
to the man not SO much as broken spar
to cling to. Depend upon it, that we'll will
come into our possession again, though it
anointed men in the Lords host with
enough conservation to do the work, then
the swords will leap from Jehovah's buck
Ter, and the eternal three will descend
God the Father, God the Son, God the
Holy Ghost-conquering for our dying
race the way back again to "the water of
the we'll of Bethlehem, which is by the
eate." "If God be for us, who can be
.gainst us?" IF God spared not his own
Son, but freely gave Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things?" "For am pursuaded that
neither height, nor depth, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things pres
ent, ner things to come" shall take from
us, into final captivity, the Gospel ct my
blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, the Gospel we'll, like the one
spoken of in my text, is well at the gate.
The traveller stops the camel to-day, and
gets down and dips out of the Valley OF
the East some very beautiful, clear, bright
water, and that is out of the very well that
David longed for. Do you know that tho
we'll was at the gate, SO that nobody could
go into Bethlehem without going right
past it? And so it is with this Gospel we'll
it is at the gate. It is, in the first place,
at the gate of publication. We cannot
wash away our sins unless with that water.
1 take the responsibility of saying that
there is no man, woman, or child in this
house to-day that has escaped sinful de-
Element. Do you say it is outrageous and
ungallant for me to make such charge?
Do you say, II have never stolen, have
never blasphemed, have never committed
unchastity, l have never been guilty OF
murder" 1 reply you have committed a
sin worse than blasphemy, worse than UNI
chastity, worse than theft, worse than
-.,.dor lVa have all oommittal il. We